1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print system for managing the security of a printer shared on a network, and more particularly, for checking whether users have the authority to print or access the security data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a security management system of this kind, a printer is managed by a server computer. Upon receipt of a request from a user to print or to read and modify security data in the server computer, the server determines whether the user has the proper authority for the requested service.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, with respect to a request from a user for printing or reading and modifying the security data, the server computer first acquires the user ID (identifying information) of the requesting user (step S21 in FIG. 5), and then determines the nature of the request (whether it is a print request) (step S22 in FIG. 5).
If the request is to read and modify the security data, the server computer determines whether the user has authority to access the security data (step S23 in FIG. 5), providing an error indication if the user is unauthorized (step S29 in FIG. 5).
If the user is authorized for such access, the server computer allows the user to read and modify the security data via a user interface (step S24 in FIG. 5). If the security data is thus changed (step S25 in FIG. 5), the server computer saves the changes (step S26 in FIG. 5).
On the other hand, if the request is merely to print, the server computer determines whether the user has print authority (step S27 in FIG. 5), providing an error indication if not (step S29 in FIG. 5). If the user is authorized, the server computer executes print processing (step S28 in FIG. 5).
In addition to the security management system mentioned above, there also exists a system in which the authority to use a printer commonly used on a network is set with respect to each computer on the network. Printing is authorized only with respect to a print request from a computer having the proper authority, and the number of sheets of the print request is counted and recorded so that the print account of each computer on the network may be determined.
In the case of this system, when a print request is made from a computer, the number of sheets of the print request is counted by a print sheet number counting portion, and the count is transferred to a maintenance computer to be recorded. The maintenance computer records the total number of printed sheets with respect to every computer or every department the computers belong to. This technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-73128.
In the conventional security management systems described above, the required security function only determines whether or not a user may use the printer, and can not place restrictions on the printable number of sheets, the kind of paper, or which paper feeder is to be used. Neither can it restrict use of functions such as color printing, printing on both sides, and enlarged/reduced printing.
Further, although it is known to record the number of printed sheets with respect to each computer or each department the computers belong to, since the number of printed sheets per type of paper or per paper feeder and the number of times double-sided and color printing are used are not recorded with respect to every user, a manager can not determine the cumulative number of such uses, and therefore, can not manage them.